Review: From Where I Watch You

By Shannon Grogan

Available now from Soho Teen

Review copy

From Where I Watch You was Shannon Grogan's debut (and so far only) novel. I think it is an ambitious novel with lots of promise, but that Grogan didn't quite have the experience to bring all the storylines together naturally.

Kara McKinley is a star baker. Only 16, she's in the running for a baking competition that would get her a scholarship to culinary school in another state. She wants to escape from her home and the shadow of her older sister's death at college, and her mom's resulting holy roller ways. She also wants to escape her stalker, whose notes are becoming increasingly threatening.

 

Those plot drivers are covered by the blurb. What isn't covered is that From Where I Watch You details Kara and her sister Kellan's history between the present chapters, building up the reason why Kara isn't sorry her sister is dead. Kellan's betrayal is horrible, but I'm not sure what happened to Kara fits the rest of the novel. It is a heavy subject to add to a book, and I'm not sure there was enough room to give it proper weight. There could have been tension between the sisters without it.

Kara is also hallucinating her dead sister. Oh, and falling in love with Charlie, who is finally noticing her now that he works in her mother's cafe and who might be homeless. There's a lot going on, and I feel like paring down a few of the minor plots would have helped From Where I Watch You hit harder, particularly the reveal at the end.

As it was, it felt like there was barely time for the mystery. Kara never tells anyone who might help her and never does much to solve it. In the end, the stalker has to reveal himself, which felt anti-climatic to me.